On the surface, no big deal. Coaches want to see what they’ve got with the kid from Penn State and, as a third-round draft pick, he’s getting every opportunity to show.

With Nate Burleson sidelined by a hamstring tweak, the starting receivers were T.J. Houshmandzadeh and Butler.

Frankly, Butler’s star had seemed to be slipping in the last few weeks of training camp. He looked great in minicamps and early work, but struggled a bit to get open when things started heating up.

So Saturday’s showing — a perfect 34-yard touchdown catch on a deep ball from Matt Hasselbeck on the first drive and an even-better 13-yard reception on a crossing route on a third-and-8 play later in the first quarter — were welcome signs that Butler indeed can be a factor.

There never was a question that he’d make the Seahawks’ roster, but there were legitimate questions of who you’d rather have on the field at this point — Butler or one of the more-experienced youngsters like Ben Obomanu, Jordan Kent, Courtney Taylor or Mike Hass.

Butler thus quieted any growing doubts with his game performance against the Broncos. And in so doing, he raised another interesting question. If he is ready to contribute this season, where exactly does that leave Branch?

The Seahawks aren’t going to use the four-receiver sets of Mike Holmgren. New coordinator Greg Knapp prefers mostly two- and sometimes three-receiver formations. He’ll frequently line tight end John Carlson out wide and also go with double tight ends a lot — and in fact opened Saturday’s game with both Carlson and backup tight end John Owens lined up outside.

All the talk of who’ll be the fifth and sixth receivers to make the final roster could be moot since it’s quite possible they’ll only keep five this year given the likely need to carry an extra offensive lineman to cover for Walter Jones early in the season.

Branch is always listed as one of the four “sure-thing” keepers, along with Burleson, Houshmandzadeh and Butler. And that almost surely will happen. But Branch really hasn’t shown a lot in camp, barely played in Saturday’s game and seems continually slowed by health issues.

So there seems an outside chance, particularly if Butler convinces the coaches he can be that guy, that Branch becomes surprisingly expendable. That would only happen if the staff is convinced that at least two of the young challengers — Obomanu, Taylor, Kent, Hass, Logan Payne, Michael Bumpus — are capable of contributing on Sundays.

Kent got the longest look Saturday and either didn’t get open or didn’t get the ball. The others got very few opportunities as Seattle didn’t throw much in the second half.

I asked Jim Mora how that battle was going to separate itself if none of the youngsters get many opportunities in these preseason games and he said it might have to come down to practice looks and special teams contributions.

The veteran Branch isn’t being evaluated on that same basis since he’s a guy with a track record, but he hasn’t done a lot in practice and isn’t a special teams contributor whatsoever.

Much can happen in the next two weeks before final roster cutdowns on Sept. 5, but that one bears watching in the final preseason games.

Other thoughts from Saturday’s showing:

Butler learning on the job: Mora is determined to also see what Butler can do on kickoff returns despite a shaky effort there the first two games.

And while the 182-pound kid nearly got killed on one return when nobody bothered blocking Broncos 222-pound linebacker Wesley Woodward, he seemed to grow more comfortable as the game progressed.

Deon Butler

Though he averaged just 18.3 yards on four returns, his final effort — after initially bobbling the ball near the goal line — resulted in a 37-yard burst up the right sideline.

It bears repeating that Butler NEVER returned kicks in college and is literally learning on the fly. And, no, the simulated drills in practice — where nobody is tackling — aren’t quite the same.

“I think the light bulb just came on for me tonight as far as how I need to hit the wedge,” Butler said afterward. “I didn’t have a great day back there and the last one started off bad with me dropping the kick, but I think it finally hit me as far as how you’ve got to kind of just trust it. You can’t make too many reads because guys are coming down there flying full speed.

“I’ve talked to a lot of guys, even defensive guys on the other side, trying to get tips. It’s a daily learning experience.”

But ultimately the only teaching tool is live game action.

“In practice, guys aren’t trying to take your head off,” he said. “This is different. But with this game experience, I think I’m getting better. The last one, I hit it like I wanted to, it just started off with a bad drop.”

If Butler proves adept, that takes some of the pressure off Josh Wilson, who is being counted on as a starting corner as long as Marcus Trufant is out.

The defense rests: Legitimate concerns were raised about the lack of pass rush from the No. 1 defense Saturday, but it’s worth noting that Seattle did virtually no blitzing or anything outside of its vanilla four-man rush.

Would be nice to get more pressure out of that straight front, but that’s a lot different than what will be dialed up during regular-season Sundays when the team specifically game-plans for its opponents.

Nick Reed

I wouldn’t spend any time evaluating Saturday’s effort on that front.

But, yes, the backup defensive line did play much more aggressively — even against Denver’s starting offensive line for the first two series of the second half. And, yes, rookies Nick Reed and Michael Bennett are making strong cases for themselves.

Reed continues being the best story of preseason as the undersized can-do defensive end. His one and a half sacks were nice, but perhaps more important was a partial punt deflection. If he can contribute on special teams, there’s no way they can keep him off the final roster in favor of returning backup Baraka Atkins.

The undrafted Bennett figures more as a practice squad candidate given the numbers situation, but he’s an interesting prospect out of Texas A&M.

Player of the game: Backup linebacker Will Herring was outstanding with three tackles behind the line of scrimmage and two nice hits on special teams. The third-year man out of Purdue showed the Seahawks have some nice depth developing at that position behind starters Lofa Tatupu, Leroy Hill and Aaron Curry.

Dependable D.D. Lewis started in place of an injured Curry, but Herring and Lance Laury have both been having very good camps as well.

Primary concern: The running game clearly is nowhere near ready. Mora says it’s a matter of giving the system time to come together with the new zone-blocking schemes and a shuffling offensive line.

With Julius Jones held out to rest a bruised thigh, nobody stepped up. Take away Seneca Wallace’s two scrambles for 20 yards and the trio of tailbacks — T.J. Duckett, Justin Forsett and Devin Moore — totaled just 52 yards on 21 carries for 2.5 yards a crack.

Didn’t look like much room to run, so not sure whether this one lies on the backs or the juggled line. But that’s an area that’s got to get a whole lot better in the coming weeks.